Low-risk testing

In partnership with Dawsongroup and HTC, Antalis recently undertook a week-long trial of a DAF LF Electric 19-tonne truck. Motor Transport finds out how it went

Antalis, a leading international distributor of papers, packaging and visual communications products, has long played a major role in the sector’s drive to sustainability. It has been developing an endto-end supply chain process, a key part of which is the consideration of future fuels and zero emissions demands.

Mark Hadley, Antalis central distribution centre (CDC) and UK transport manager, has recently completed a week-long trial of an electric truck, and he told MT what challenges he feels medium-sized operators face with this changing technology, not only in the long term, but in the early trialling and evaluation of these new vehicles.

Antalis currently operates eight tractor units, 13 trailers and three rigids at a number of locations across the UK. They were supplied through Dawsongroup truck and trailer, so it was to Dawsongroup that Hadley turned as his first port of call for an electric vehicle to trial. The national independent leasing, rental and contract hire operation is already heavily involved in looking at longer term investment and the practicalities of electric vehicle operation.

So it in turn asked local supplier, DAF dealership HTC, to provide a DAF LF 19-tonne electric truck and the necessary familiarisation training. Both Dawsongroup and HTC got involved in the trial as the driver got to grips with the truck and worked as close to a normal working week as he could.

Hadley explains: “From my point of view, Antalis needed to take an early look at the possibilities and pitfalls of electric vehicle operation. We’ll also look at hydrogen and any other options as and when we get the chance. We all know the deadline for the end of new dieselpowered urban distribution trucks is currently 2035, so with our routine turn of vehicles on the fleet at seven years, and the next turn due in 2024, vehicles bought to refresh the fleet in just two turns time will be only four years away from the deadline.

“At that stage, the question becomes ‘do we invest in electric at that time, or stick to diesel with all the inherent problems of potential government tightening up on Derv and road taxes in its drive to get diesel off the road?’

“Of course, as a customer of Dawsongroup, we don’t have to plough any of our own investment capital into trucks and trailers. Its contract hire package works very well for us. However, you don’t have to be a genius to work out that the cost of leasing, rental and contract hire will all go up as new vehicles – electric, hydrogen or whatever – come onto their fleet and diesel vehicle values drop. It’s understandable. Inevitable! They are going to be paying much more for the trucks, so that will have to be passed on, but as I say, at least it’s not our investment capital being spent.

“The unknowns therefore are how much that will add to our costs, and then what benefits might the vehicles’ operating costs have in terms of balancing that out?”

It’s a well-reasoned thought process, so what did Hadley learn from the week’s hands-on trial?

Weighing up the benefits

The truck was an LF 18-tonner, built at the DAF factory in Leyland, one of three LF demonstrators with curtainside, box and refrigerated bodies. Under current government dispensation it is allowed to operate at 19 tonnes GVW to compensate for some of the added battery weight. Hadley was happy with this, but pointed out that it still meant an overall payload loss of around 750kg.

Load capacity is just one aspect though, and Hadley pointed to an issue with axle loads as the vehicle is loaded or unloaded. With the battery already adding to the front axle load, leaving too much weight close to the bulkhead would result in serious overloading. This is potentially less of a problem on curtainsiders, depending on drop sizes and weights, but a real consideration with box bodies.

POSSIBILITIES AND PITFALLS: Antalis central distribution centre and UK transport manager Mark Hadley is keen to explore both electric and hydrogen vehicle operation

David Price, sales specialist at HTC, was keen to allay fears for the longer term. “The probability is that flexibility in chassis battery packaging will help overcome this,” he says. “Certainly, I understand the new generation of DAF trucks in the range due in 2023 will allow the preselection of battery positioning and battery size to suit operations.” ➜ 18

LEARNING THE ROPES: Driver Andy Smith quickly overcame his range anxiety and came away from the trial with more positives than negatives

On the purely practical side of its operation, the truck was charged overnight at Antalis’ 250,000sq ft head office depot in Coalville, just north of Leicester, via the 22kW on-board AC charger and charging cable supplied with the vehicle, with power provided by a single 32A, 5-pin socket in the warehouse loading bays.

Positives and negatives

The designated driver for the trial week was Andy Smith, a regular for Antalis on its local distribution routes. He found charging the vehicle “very simple and required minimal training”.

Out on the road, Smith admitted to “having a third eye on the battery power gauge all the time”. This range anxiety reduced as the week progressed, and he says: “The lack of noise took a while to get used to as well, but the truck was fantastically quick off the mark from a standing start, compared to diesel, which made dealing with roundabouts a lot easier. The kinetic braking – braking without using your brakes – was also very useful.

“On the whole, based on this limited trial, I’d say there were more positives than negatives from a driver’s perspective and I was more impressed than I thought I was going to be.”

The electric LF undertook very local runs, with no tail lift use – a measure aimed at saving battery charge, though Price at HTC says: “Even the Antalis column tail lifts shouldn’t have much more than a 10% impact on range during a normal run of deliveries.”

The truck also ran at about half load, around 14 tonnes GVW, to avoid any problems with battery power, and was used to cover around 60 miles overall per trip. “We were not ready to try heavier loads and longer journeys,” says Hadley, and indeed the vehicle stayed in the yard one day as route planners needed to schedule a heavier load and a longer run. “We were taking no risks,” he says. “This was a first look at the possibilities and we were happy with what we felt able to do.”

The future of fuel

Antalis currently has bunkered diesel as well as using driver fuel cards, and Hadley was, as all operators must be, concerned by current and predicted prices of both diesel and AdBlue. On the other hand, as he pointed out, nobody can predict the price of electricity with any certainty. Then, there is the added cost of charging points on site, not to mention the probable cost of contributing to a new sub-station as local demand grows.

Surprisingly, the DAF was not fitted with telematics, and there was no opportunity at this trial to measure the electricity used to charge the vehicle – a point Hadley regrets and would certainly cover off in any future trials. His current 18-tonners are averaging around 13.6mpg on heavier loads, so he might look retrospectively at gathering charging costs to deliver an accurate comparison. As he says however: “We’re not being asked to make a choice! Government has said ‘no more diesel’, so this trial was all about the operating experience: how did the driver feel, what was the impact on load capacity, journey lengths and journey times?

“We were able to gather a lot of useful experience in these areas, but at the end of the day, it almost doesn’t matter how it might have stacked up against diesel fuel costs, because in 2035 we don’t get the option of diesel in new vehicles. It’s either electric, hydrogen or something new; diesel becomes history, a thing of the past.”

One reassuring factor to come out of the trial was that, with the emphasis on electric vehicle route planning for battery economy rather than just speed, possibilities will almost certainly come up to use similar economies on the current diesel fleet.

Chris Beckett, Dawsongroup manager for Antalis and the trial, says: “The fact of the matter is that there’s a lot left for diesel to offer, and it’s going to be a factor for a good while yet. Yes, 2035 isn’t that far away now in terms of fleet renewal cycles for anyone; however, while electric vehicles and their operating costs are largely unknown as yet, there are still ways for our customers and others to find better ways to run today’s diesel trucks and deliver more profitable performances from them. We’re looking into it ourselves, and we’ll support them in that as much as we can.”

So while the future is still a great unknown, with businesses like Antalis prepared to look into that unknown and examine the possibilities and possible pitfalls of the next generation of trucks and vans, the future also looks workable. Very different, but workable. ■ For all the latest news and information dedicated to the decarbonisation of the commercial vehicle and road freight sector, check out our sister website FreightCarbonZero.com